Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Councillors from Labour, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in Wicklow vote to Criminalise Householders for Non Payment of Household Charge

Sinn Féin county councillors John Brady and John Snell have expresseddeep disappointment that a motion they had tabled at Wicklow countycouncil opposing the unfair Household charge was rejected at Tuesdayscouncil meeting by 14 votes to 4. The councillors have said the votein Wicklow county council now clears the way to criminalise the 53.1%of households in Wicklow who have refused to pay the new stealth tax.

Sinn Féin councillor John Brady who proposed the motion stated "We aredisappointed the the Sinn Féin motion was defeated at the councilmeeting on Tuesday, however we are not surprised. We tabled the motionon March 2nd and great attempts were made to keep the motion off theagenda so it would not even be debated in the first place. The motioncalled on the council to oppose the Household charge and instruct thecouncil officials not criminalise or initiate legal proceedingsagainst people for their inability to pay the tax. After a lengthydebate the motion was defeated by 14 votes to 4, there was 3abstentions and 3 councillors not present"

Cllr Snell stated "The vote in Wicklow now gives the council officialsa free hand to take whatever action they feel is necessary to get theHousehold charge from Wicklow residents who have not complied with thenew stealth tax, this includes legal proceedings and court action. Iam particularly disappointed at members of the Labour party in Wicklowwho with great fan-fair in December said they were voting against thecouncils budget because of the household charge, however at thecouncil meeting they were given an opportunity to take a stand on theissue and to reject the charge and to protect the people who have beenunable to pay the €100 stealth tax. Instead the Labour party ran forcover, Cllr Jimmy O'Shaughnessy left the chamber before the debatestarted, Cllr Tom Fortune sat on the fence and abstained, whilst ConalKavanagh and John Byrne voted against the motion"

Cllr Brady went onto say "Unsurprisingly councillors from Fianna Fáiland Fine Gael also voted against the Sinn Féin motion. The bottom lineis people in Wicklow like all other counties simply cant afford the€100 stealth tax, people are struggling to put food on the table andpay the bills and trying to get blood from stones simply doesn't work.The introduction of the tax is simply the thin end of the wedge andonce registered payments for households will simply increase on anannual basis. The majority of Wicklow residents made the rightdecision to refuse to comply with the governments policy of austerityand they have taken a stand against the new tax and refused to pay.The rejection of the motion now clears the way for the potentialcriminalisation of thousands of Wicklow residents and the blame lieson the shoulders of the Labour Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael inWicklow"

Cllr Brady concluded "The vote in Wicklow just goes to show how out oftouch the so called public representatives are in Wicklow with thepeople on the ground having to live with the policies of austerityfrom the government. Sinn Féin will continue to fight against the taxand will try introduce a bill in Leinster House in June to to repealthe charge. The bill, entitled Local Government (Household Charge)(Repeal) Bill 2012, aims to repeal the household charge and allow theDepartment to reimburse those households that have already paid it.Sinn Féin will be tabling the bill during private members’ time inJune, this will give all TDs including Government ones an opportunityto stand with the ordinary people of Wicklow and around the State whoare struggling to survive let alone pay the unfair and unjusthousehold tax" Ends

The full Sinn Féin motion reads

Wicklow county council strongly opposes the Household charge and wecall on the Government to immediately scrap it. It is very evidentthat the massive non payment of the Household tax by Wicklow residentswho simply cant afford this additional unfair tax, will add to thehuge shortfall in the €160 million in funding which the Government hadexpected from this tax. We therefore call on the Government to lookat an alternative way of funding local authorities.We also instruct Wicklow county council not to criminalise or initiatelegal proceedings against people for their inability to pay or theirnon compliance with the unfair and unjust Household tax.